


bird hats and cough syrup

by sharivan



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Let Prompto Be Fat, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 00:16:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17838755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharivan/pseuds/sharivan
Summary: His next conversation with Prince Noctis does not begin as he had imagined, with Prompto smoothly introducing himself and winning him over.He’s bent over and coughing his lungs out. They’re full of horrors. The human body has way too much slime.





	bird hats and cough syrup

The first couple of runs are bad. People do this every day? This jolting pain in his ankle, whatever happens in his mouth that makes it feel like the blood is just waiting to gush out through his gums. Every day?

But Luna is trusting him to do this. He tries again.

No matter how good he feels at the start of a run he ends them deep red and coughing.

He tries again.

It’s supposed to get better at some point, he’s pretty sure. This is just because he’s weak and fat. As his body gets used to it everything will get easier. Kids his age are supposed to run, after all.

\--

It gets harder as the weather cools. His lungs, barely cooperative with the exercise at the best of times, give up entirely. They hurt in a weird way, cold in a way the inside of his body shouldn’t be. Walking to and from school starts to leave him exhausted.

His next conversation with Prince Noctis does not begin as he had imagined, with Prompto smoothly introducing himself and winning him over.

He’s bent over outside the school, coughing his lungs out. They’re full of horrors. The human body has way too much slime.

“Holy shit, man, are you okay?”

This coughing fit was a solo activity.

“...yeah,” he finally manages. Then he’s coughing again.

“Really convincing. _Ignis!_ ” 

Someone else walks over. This whole deal was already embarrassing enough without the obvious audience. He’s a little too focused on getting his breathing under control to tell them to back off, though.

“Noct, we really need to - oh.”

Prompto finally looks up. Yep, that’s the crown prince who’s been watching his coughing fit. Is getting him sick treason? Biological warfare?

“I’m okay.”

They do not take this clear invitation to leave him alone and go on with their days.

“Is someone picking you up?” the newcomer asks.

“...no.”

“I don’t think he should walk home,” the prince says. 

\--

Noct showing an interest in a classmate was an excellent development that should be encouraged. It might have been nice if he had started with one who wasn’t spraying germs absolutely everywhere, but here they were. 

Unfortunately Noct was right. As the boy was in no condition to walk home alone, Ignis wrangles Noct into the front seat and his temporary charge into the back.

“Do you need anything on the way home? Medicine, food?”

The boy wipes his face on his sleeve and says, “I’m not taking any medicine.”

Ignis takes a deep breath. He tries not to hold too much against the child, who is apparently as much of a disaster as Noct himself, but _someone_ sent him to school without proper treatment, apparently hoping only to infect as many schoolchildren as possible. 

“Have you seen a doctor?”

“It’s just a cold.”

No, then. He can’t exactly haul this stranger off to the Citadel just because he can’t take care of himself.

“What? You’ve been coughing forever, dude, that’s not how colds work.”

“I’m afraid Noct has a point. There’s an urgent care near here. You really must get that seen to.”

“You don’t need to. And, I mean, it’s not like I take that much money to school with me.”

Noct shoves at Ignis’ arm. As though he would have given up otherwise.

“It’s no trouble, I assure you. We could hardly let a classmate of Noct’s suffer for want of basic medical attention. Consider it our humanitarian duty.”

“Yeah, it’s a bad look to just shove somebody out of a car when they sound as bad as you,” Noct adds. Charming. 

Urgent care is blessedly quiet at this point in the afternoon. Armed with the boy’s name and his considerable talent negotiating bureaucracies, Ignis gets him on the list to be seen before joining Noct and Prompto in the waiting area.

Prompto is doggedly attempting to show Noct something on his phone. “...and you can give the birds _little hats_ , it’s so good.” 

“I like that rocket ship perch.”

They’re silent for a long moment before Prompto is summoned by a nurse.

“Sorry Ignis,” Noct whispers. “He just seemed so sick.”

\--

Prompto was baffled but relieved to be left at his front door with a bag of medicine and instant noodles. 

That had been one of the most embarrassing experiences of his life. Flipside, being able to breathe without a coughing fit was pretty awesome. _Nebulizers_ , man.

It turned out you could go see a doctor if you were kinda sick for a while without waiting to see if it ever became a crisis. Who knew?

The prince and his minder, apparently. Maybe this was the sort of thing parents clued you in on. He wouldn’t know.

Belly full of noodles and disgusting cough syrup, Prompto happily fell asleep.

\-- 

The first day he stays home is a blur of bleary sickness and the relief of finally being able to sleep. The second is mostly boring. By the time classes start again the next week even the usual drag of class and trying not to draw attention to himself at lunch sounds like a welcome change from more time home alone.

“Hey Prompto.”

He doesn’t jump. He doesn’t. People just don’t generally come up behind him like that.

“Uh, hi Noct.”

“You don’t sound as bad. Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah! Sorry you had to go so far out of your way for me, buddy.”

“It’s really not a problem. But, uh, I’ve been playing that bird game. Check out my garden?”

“Oh, dude! The little doughnut hat!”

“Right?”

Put at ease by the cuteness of cartoon birds, Prompto walked along with Noctis towards the classrooms.

Noct approaching _him_ had never been how he thought they’d get to know each other. Certainly not like this, with him still fat and too distracted at first to even notice Noct’s approach. This wasn’t the plan.

It was kind of nice, though.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompto would love [Tiny Bird Garden](https://tinybirdgarden.com/).


End file.
